Thread-carrier.



J. LACHOYX.

THREAD CARRIER.

APPLICATION men 1ULY 21.1916.

Patented Nov. 5, 1918.

JOSEPH LACROIX, 0F FALL RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HAL]? T0 HIMSELF, AND ONE-HALF TO MAYHEW B HITCH,

CHU SETTS.

or new Bnnronn, Massa- THREAD-CARRIER.

weenie.

Application filed July 27, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnnn LAonorX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fall River, county of Bristol, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thread-Carriers, of which the following is a specification lhis invention relates to textile apparatus and more particularly to a thread carrier interchangeably adaptable for use in mulespinning or in ring-spinning machines, and in loom shuttles.

In present general mill practice yarn is spun in ring twisters upon a bobbin removably mounted upon a whirl-driven spindle.

I In mule twisting apparatus, the yarn is started or wound upon a thin, fragile thimble or cop tube removably slipped upon a driven spindle on the carriage. The loaded bobbins or cops are subsequently removably slipped upon spindles pivotally mounted in the thread chambers of shuttles to permit service of the thread or yarn in weaving It is one of the objects of my invention to eliminate the use of bobbins and cop-tubes or thimbles, and eliminate the requirement of a stem or spindle therefor and to provide a balanced means for receiving thread or yarn as spun or twisted in either ring-spinning or mule-twisting apparatus and which may subsequently be utilized in a bobbin to serve the thread or yarn.

To this end, a feature of my invention resides in a thread or yarn receiver or carrier adaptable for use in either ring-spinning or muletwisting machines and capable of transfer from these, when loaded, to the shuttle of a loom. In an operative and practicable form of my invention, as demonstrated by use, the thread carrier comprises a thread-receiving shank portion and a but or stem designed for attachment to twisting or weaving apparatus by engagement with suitable connectors thereon. The adaptability of the thread carrier to either form of twisting apparatus is achieved by provision of an enlarging means for receiving the thread or yarn as spun in a ring-machine and which may be eliminated when the thread carrier is used in mule-twisting.

Thread or yarn receivers have been variously formed along their shank surfaces to afford a means for preventing the load of yarn or thread from slipping endwise off Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Nov. 5t, f uid.

Serial No. 111,745.

the tube or shank. Ditliculty has been found in this respect in that owing to the great rapidity of shuttle movement during weaving, the unwinding yarn frequently snaps with loss of valuable time because of stopping of the loom, etc. It is therefore an object of my invention to provide for the unwinding of the yarn or thread from the re ceiver or carrier with a material reduction or elimination of breakage during weaving. Accordingly, a feature of my invention contemplates the peculiar configuration of the thread-bearing surface of the receiver to effect this object. The manner of this is to form a series of shallow and wide circumferential grooves along the receiver, the shoulders between each separate groove being generally rounded and intersecting with the adjacent grooves without any marked line, edge, or corner, thus forming shallow, transverse, curved-surface, wave-like undulation along the shank of the receiver.

The invention has as a further object to provide for the ready attachment and securing of the receiver or carrier, to the shuttle and for detachment therefrom. his a general object to save time in spinning operations, to provide for increased capacity, and for better product. These and other objects are provided for and accomplished by my invention, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, from the following specification, in which the invention is more particularly described, and by reference to the accompanying drawing which illustrates an embodiment of a preferred form of the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved thread carrier showing the adapter partly in section.

Fig. 2 is a central, longitudinal section of a portion of a shuttle showing the thread carrier adjusted in the connector in position to be swung into the chamber of the shuttle.

Fig. 3 illustrates on an enlarged scale the configuration, or undulating thread-receiving surface, of the thread-receiving member.

One of the principal objections to the use of bobbins in spinning andweaving is .that a serious loss of capacity results from tube to collapse and also to injury to which the loaded tube is frequently subjected by the careless adjustment of the cop upon the receiving spindle ordinarily provided in loom shuttles. It is with these disadvantages in view that I have devised, con- :structed and used .a' solid thread-receiving member which is of comparatively small diameter as to the diameter and size of the ordinary bobbin, and which is of such construction and design that it may be utilized with equal facility in either ring-twisters or mule twisters. The thread receiver here contemplated consists preferably of a slender, gradually tapering skewer-like body 2, one end of which is provided with a solid concentric butt or stem portion 3, adapted for insertion into an axially symmetrical interlocking engagement with a socket or connecting device of either a ring or a mule-spinning apparatus, or in a shuttle. In Fig. 2, the thread receiving member 2 is shown as inserted in a form of connector 41:,

mounted upon a pivot 5 in one end of a shuttle 6, having the usual bobbin-receiving chamber.

The shank of the thread carrier is provided adjacent its stem-end 3 with a suitable form of stop, here shown as a collar or flange 2, one face of which abuts against the adjacent end of the socket of the connector 4, and thus limits the position of the thread carrier in the connector, although it is to be understood that any suitable form of positioning means may be adapted to the required end.

One of the features of the present invention consists in so designing the exterior or thread-receiving surface of the shank of the thread-receiver or carrier as to prevent the accidental endwise movement of a load of yarn or thread being twisted, or which has been twisted, upon the shank of the thread carrier. Divers means have been proposed and used with the object of preventing this endwise movement of a load of yarn, but a serious objection to many of the forms of retaining devices is raised because (if the frequent breakage of the yarn or thread as it is being served from the shuttle during the weaving operation.

To overcome this defect, I have found that by forming a series of shallow and wide circumferential grooves along the receiver surface which produce a smooth cornerless retainer, the thread can be drawn down to the last layer on the bearing surface of the received without snapping. This corrugated surface is clearly shown diagrammaticallyin Fig. 3 in which a symmetrical series of bulbous shoulders 2 are spaced along the body of the receiver or skewer, the shoulders being preferably generally rounded and connecting with shallow grooves 2. It

has been found that this slight waving corrugation of the receiver surface provides for safely retaining the load of yarn or thread on the receiver andpermits the thread to be drawn during weaving without snapping.

Another important characteristic of my present invention resides in provision of means whereby a single carrier may be interchangeably adapted for service in either ring-spinning or mule-spinning apparatus. As is well known, in mule-spinning processes the yarn winds upon the body of a com paratively small spindle, while in ring-spinning the yarn starts to wind upon an enlarged base-portion of a receiver or bobbin. In my invention, the enlargement of the base portion of the thread carrier 2 is accomplished through a suitable enlarging means. as by the attachment thereto of a removable adapter 10, of suitable proportions, and which is here shown as of conical form, with a series of successive-diametrically decreasing steps or shoulders 10. The larger or lower end of the adapter is concaved or coun tersunk as at 11 to fit over the flange 2 of the thread carrier; the adapter being provided with a central longitudinal aperture or bore 12, designed or shaped to it the body of the thread carrier 2 immediately above the limiting shoulder or flange 2. The collar 2 therefore not only provides a stop to limit the amount of entrance of the thread carrier into the connectors of the spinning frames and shuttles, but also affords a seat for the removable adapter 10 when said adapter is applied. When the thread carrier is used without the adapter, as in mule spinning, the collar 2 affords a supporting base for the load of mule yarn which is smooth and flat so as not to entangle the yarn in filling the thread carrier. It will be understood therefore that when the thread carrier is to be used in mule-spinning apparatus the adapter 10 will be removed from the thread carrier 2 so that when the latter is adjusted in the appropriate connector on the mule carrlage, the cop w1ll be wound directly upon the thread-receiving surface of the thread carrier, and the latter, when filled, may be removed and inserted directly for use into the shuttle 6. WVhen the receiver or thread carrier is to be used in ring-spinning apparatus, the adapter 10 is placed upon the shank of the thread carrier and this may be adjusted in a connector in the spinning apparatus.

The connector 4 is shown in Fig. 2 prov'ided with a socket portion l which is disposed laterally and perpendicularly to the axis of the pivot 5 and is provided with a side opening 4 into which there is adapted to project, when the connector at is tilted downwardly, a suitable shoulder, stop, or locking device, in the end of the shuttle 6. In the present embodiment, this look comprises a transverse stay-pin 13, which is adapted to aline with and enter a seat 3* lar relation about the a xis of the socket, and

be quickly lockedby the pin 13, against longitudinal movement When the loaded thread carrier 2 and the connector 4 is tilted downwardly into longitudinal position in the shuttle but providing for the aXial balance of the thread carrier when it is being rotated in the connector of the ring or mule spinning frame to load it With mule or ring yarn as the case may be. The connector 4 may be suitably controlled in its several positions on the shuttle 6 and this control is had in the present instance by means of a spring 14 suitably attached to the end ofthe shuttle 6 and having one end adapted to over-lap adjacent and relatively angularly disposed engaging surfaces 15 at the heelof the connector 4:. a y n a By my invention it is possible towind a great deal more yarn or thread upon the thread carrier than it is possible to do when a bobbin is used, thus eliminating a number of doffing operations necessary when winding bobbins, and a further advantage is that a longer spindle or thread carrier can be utilized, thus again increasing the capacity of Wind and, further, it is possible to use a smaller ring which will permit an increase in speed and effect a smoother and better product.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i

1. A thread carrier for use in mule and ring spinning machines and in the shuttles of weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded and insertible in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, so that it may be interchangeably used, the thread carrier having a butt for engaging the connector of a spinning machine or of a shuttle, a limiting stop, and a detachable adapter Which is used when the thread carrier is filled on a ring spinning machine and is removable when the thread carrier is used on a mule.

2. A thread carrier for use in spinning machines and in the shuttles of Weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning ma chine When loaded and insert-ible in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, the thread carrier having slight waves or undulations and having a butt for engaging the connectors of spinning machines and shuttles, the structure includa limiting stop for determining the amount of entrance of the butt 1nto the connector and thus carrier.

3. A. balanced thread carrier for use in spinning machines and in the shuttles of weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded and insertible in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, so that it may be interchangeably used, the thread carrier having a butt for engaging the connectors ,of spinning machines and shuttles, and having an properly positioning the thread axially symmetrical interlocking engagement with said connectors, and a stop between said butt and the thread receiving surface of the thread carrier.

a. A balanced thread carrier for use in spinning machines and in the shuttles of weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded and insertible in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, so thatit may be interchangeably used, the thread carrier having a solid concentric butt portion for engaging the'connectors of spinning machines and shuttles and said butt having an annular locking groove providing axial bal the shuttles of Weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded and insertible in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, so that it may be interchangeably used, the thread carrier having a butt portion for engaging the connectors of spinning machines andshuttles, and having a stop between said butt portion and the thread receiving surface of the thread carrier, said thread receiving surface being tapered decreasingly from the butt to the tip and having slightly axially uniform undulations.

6. A thread carrier for use in ring and mule spinning machines and in the shuttles of weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded and insertihis in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, so that it may be interchangeably used, the thread carrier having a butt portion adapted for interlocking engagement with the connectors of spinning machines and shuttles, a collar between said butt portion and the thread receiving surits surface and being removable from the splnnlng machine when loaded and insertlble in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty so that it may be interchangeably used, and a detachable adapter which is used when the thread carrier is filled on a ring spinning machine and inserted in the shuttle and is removable when the thread carrier is used on a mule.

8. A thread carrier for use in mule and ring spinning machine and in the shuttles of weaving machines, said thread carriers beingadapted to receivethe thread directly on its surface and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded .and insertible in the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty, so that it may be interchangeably used, the thread carrierhaving a butt for engaging the connectors of spinning machines and shuttles, and having a stop for determining the amount of entrance of the butt into the connector and thus properly positioning the thread carrier and said stop providing a seat or support for a removable adapter, and a detachable adapter which seats on said stop when the thread carrier is filled on a ring spinning machine and is removable when the thread carrier is used on a mule.

9. A thread carrier for use in spinning machines and in the shuttles of weaving machines, said thread carrier being adapted to receive the thread directly on its sur face and being removable from the spinning machine when loaded and insertible 1n the shuttle and being removable from the shuttle when empty so that it may be interchangeably used, the thread carrier being solid and having a series of circumferential wide, very shallow grooves successively decreasing in diameter from the butt to the tip and presenting cornerless retaining surfaces for the thread or yarn load as it is built up upon the thread carrier when the thread carrier is in the spinning machine,

and said grooves assisting to prevent the I I Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0." 

